1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a musical-tone-control apparatus for controlling musical tones according to the movement of the fingers.
2. Prior Art
The generation of sounds in conventional musical instruments, such as a piano, an electronic organ, a guitar, a flute, or the like, are controlled by operating a keyboard, plucking strings, or blowing a pipe.
These conventional musical instruments, however, may restrict the location of performance and/or the posture of the performer. For example, pianos and electronic organs are too large to be carried, so it is impossible for a performer to move his body with the instrument freely during a performance. Guitars and wind instruments can be carried and so do not restrict the location of performance, but they can limit the posture of a performer because these instruments must be hand-held. Thus, unencumbered movement by a performer during performance cannot be expected using conventional instruments.
A "tone generating glove and associated switches" (U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,516) including switches and a tone generating has been proposed. In the glove of the '516 patent, the switches are connected to the tone generating circuit, and both the switches and the tone generating circuit are mounted in the glove. The tone generating circuit produces a tone or tones in response to the actuation of one or more of the switches. Preferably, a switch is positioned at each finger joint of the glove, and the tone generating circuit produces a different tone in response to the actuation of each different switch. In other words, each of the switches uniquely corresponds to each of the tones. Thus, the musical tones are controlled by the bending of fingers.
The conventional apparatus worn on the hand makes it possible for a performer to enjoy the generation of musical tones in response to hand movement because the musical tones are controlled merely by bending the fingers, which does not hinder other motions of the body.
However, the conventional apparatus presents the following problems:
(1) The conventional apparatus cannot accurately respond to the bending of fingers. This is because each switch and other components are not interconnected and are individually attached to the glove, so that the bending of one finger causes sagging on a part of the glove, which hinders the maintenance of contact of the other switches corresponding to the other digits. PA0 (2) In the conventional apparatus, a performer cannot achieve expressive musical performance which the performer wishes. This is because the apparatus can only generate musical tones in response to ON/OFF signals of the switches, and cannot control tone volumes, tone colors, sound effects, etc. in response to the signals of the switches.